Bernheim Forest

This week has been full throttle to say the least. I guess the busy weekend carried over into this week. On Saturday, we went to the Glendale Crossing Festival, a one day event with a parade and around 500 booths of homemade crafts and excellent, festival food. Sunday afternoon, Caleb and I visited the Bernheim Forest for their annual event called Color Fest. The event has lots of cool things to do for little ones like; a hay ride, pumpkin painting, animals to look at, insects to look at, live music, and best of all a giant maze of hay. Pictures of both of these events have been taken, but have not been processed by the MeddersNation Labs at this point (well Bernheim is now uploading so I can include them in this post).

Fast forward to yesterday (Tuesday), and I took the day off of work to attend the Heartland Montessori School’s Field Trip to Lincoln’s Birthplace followed by a picnic and then a trip to the Crawford Farm’s Pumpkin Patch with Caleb. We had a great time! Most of the kids from the 2 classes at his school were present and we watched a movie about Abraham Lincoln before heading to the beautiful structure housing the log cabin he lived in once upon a time. We then spent some free time running around outside and then made our way back to the visitor center to complete our Junior Ranger packets. The kids took their oaths to protect the wilderness and received their official Junior Ranger badges. After our picnic in the same area, we went to the farm for adventures in a corn maze, hay maze, a tunnel of doom, livestock, and giant slide big enough for daddy to use. Caleb had a wonderful time spending the day with his classmates and learning about Abraham Lincoln.

Tonight, Caleb dressed up as Bob the Builder and we drove a few miles to Grace Heartland Church for their annual Trunk or Treat event. There were lots of trunks and a huge crowd of people dressed up and ready for candy! They had a DJ with fun music, a dance floor, and free food and games inside the gym as well. Caleb didn’t have any problems wiggling his way in and out of the candy hungry traffic and he was polite to everyone he said, “Trick or Treat” to.

Halloween is coming to a close for the MeddersNation, but I have to say we had a wonderful time and it was exciting to watch Caleb pridefully glide around on his Strider balance bike in his Evel Knievel costume that Aimee and I had the pleasure of putting together.

Festivities officially started on the 16th when we went to Bernheim Forest for Colorfest with the FirquinNation and then a little over a week ago Caleb visited a farm down the road from our house called Wooden Farms to pick out some pumpkins and gourds. This past Saturday, we attended the 2nd Annual Barzee Pumpkin Carving Party at John and Beth’s house followed by Trunk or Treat at Allen and Beth’s church on Sunday. The parking lot was blocked off, trunks were decorated, and flash mob dancing was in full effect. Caleb wore his M and M costume for this event and his day care party on Monday.

Halloween night: Daddy rushed home from work a half an hour early to help get Caleb ready, then we headed out the door to catch up with the rest of the gang, and to tear up the streets! Caleb rode his Strider practically the entire time we were trick or treating; only showing fatigue with about a block and half to go. He climbed up hills, through the grass, and up stairs to get candy from happy greeters. He said the magic words, “Trick or treat” and kindly said, “Thank you” after receiving treats. Riding his Strider and sporting that awesome Evel Knievel costume drew a lot of attention from kids and parents alike as he strode from door to door. Most of the time, he just wanted to ride down the sidewalk and we had to remind him to, “Follow your cousins” so he would make the sharp rights towards candy-giver’s doors. Aimee had such a great idea and I’m thankful we were able to compile it into a costume he was comfortable wearing. Great job Aimee! What will you come up with next year?

Thanks to all the family we walked along with tonight! We know that Caleb absolutely loves being around his cousins and it is times like this we cherish most of all.

Yesterday the Medders Nation made a trip to Bernheim Forest with the Firquin Nation for a little fun at the annual Colorfest event. Everyone had a great time and the weather was perfect! Bernheim Forest is nearby and has a beautiful natural view of the great outdoors everywhere you turn.

There were plenty of events for the kids; like the music station where kids got to bang on drums as well as homemade wood and metal chimes of all sizes. They also had the opportunity to get their faces painted, paint pumpkins, go through a maze of stacked hay, go on a hay ride, and more. For the adults there were arts and crafts for sale, live music, and the joy of watching their kids have fun!

The first picture in the slideshow below is of Caleb wearing mommy’s shoes in the living room, because he likes the loud noises they make on the wood floor.